My specialty is true crime, but even I’m puzzled: why are we so addicted to the dark side of humanity? | Martin Brunt

On the TV, radio and podcasts, we seem ever more fascinated with the wickedness of some and the misfortune of others

A day after a horrific stabbing in the Midlands, a resident took out her mobile phone and said to me: Listen to this, it's absolutely disgusting." She then played me an audio recording that seemed to capture some of the fatal attack on two students. We stood there, as the sun went down on a lovely summer's evening, appalled and dumbfounded.

The woman said it was being circulated on WhatsApp, and she wanted me to expose the man she believed was sharing it. In order to describe it accurately, I've replayed the clip several times. If it's a true recording - and I think it probably is - it's the worst thing I've ever heard.